At first, I didn’t love Shakira’s new album Sale El Sol, but after five or six listens, it really started to grow on me. Typically, I prefer my Shakira obsessed and tormented rather than optimistically cheerleading for Africa(Waka,Waka, yo).Personally, I think the title track, Sale El Sol, a mid-tempo snooze-fest, is the weakest of the album. Devoción is the album highlight among a few other strong selections (Antes De Las Seis, Rabiosa).Now let’s talk about Shakira’s cover of the XX’s Islands. Loyal readers (gracias!) know that we majorly heart the XX here at Demeter Clarc, and frankly Shakira’s version is no where near as good as the original. Since the xx came out less than a year and a half ago, I don’t see the point of this unnecessary and not particularly inspired cover.One other small complaint: of fifteen songs, the last four are remixes of songs that appear earlier on the record. So between the cover and the one-song-two-ways gimmick, Sale El Sol definitely contains some empty calories.